Guwahati, Sep 24 Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday asserted that the chief election commissioner can’t take decisions without consulting election commissioners, alleging that the CEC was being targeted as part of a “political campaign”, which shows the “frustration” of the Opposition and ‘dimagi’ (intellectual) Naxals.
He maintained that the EC functions as a collective body and all decisions have signatures of the CEC and the two election commissioners.
“Those who know Election Commission rules won’t level such an allegation. In my humble view, the EC cannot take any decision when the CEC or the election commissioners are in a minority. All EC decisions have to be passed or taken in majority as a collective body,” Sarma said at a press conference, when asked for his reaction to a newspaper report about differences between the CEC and the two election commissioners.
“To send a message across the country that the CEC took decisions unilaterally does not fit right,” he maintained, adding that any decision requires three votes, and if both the election commissioners were against the CEC, he would have lost 1-2.
Sarma said pre-decision making consultations could have differing views, but all decisions need to have signatures of all three in the EC panel.
Dismissing the report on the differences as an attempt to create sensation, the CM said, “Targeting the CEC is a political campaign, and I don’t think the CEC can take decisions without consulting the election commissioners. The targeting shows frustration of the opposition and dimagi Naxals.”
“The EC has also issued clarification, and I don’t think there is much to it anymore,” Sarma added.
His remarks came after an Indian Express report on Wednesday claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected at least 14 times over 10 months to SIR-related decisions, including voter deletions and electoral roll data.
The EC has, however, said that decisions relating to SIR (Special Intensive Revision) were taken unanimously with the approval of all three commissioners.
(PTI News)
